The Hunter
The Hunter is a Necromorph that was biologically engineered by Doctor Challus Mercer on the Ishimura. It was created by inserting a piece of necrotic flesh on the walls directly into the cranium of an unknown crewmember (against his will). Very little is known about the Hunter other than its ability to sprout out new limbs to replace what is cut off. Players should proceed with extreme caution. Unlike any other enemy in the game, the Hunter is incapable of being killed by Isaac's weapons; instead, the player must use the environment to defeat it. Events of Dead Space The Hunter first appears during Chapter 5: Lethal Devotion. Mercer kept the creature in a stasis tube in the Chem Lab on the Medical Deck, just outside the Cryogenics Storage Room. When Isaac enters the lab to mix the poisonous compound, Dr. Mercer awakens the creature in an attempt to kill Isaac. Isaac escapes (after learning the hard way about the creature’s regenerative abilities). The creature stalks Isaac throughout the chapter, as he attempts to complete his objectives. Isaac finally faces it down in the Cryogenic Lab, where he manages to freeze the creature inside a cryogenic tube, supposedly taking care of the problem once and for all. However, as the game progresses, it is hinted that the creature has been thawed and is once again stalking Isaac, as Isaac hears the creature several times and even sees its shadow once while in an elevator. The Hunter again attacks the player in Chapter 10 once Isaac collects the third navigation card. Immediately after grabbing the card, Dr. Mercer contacts the player and reveals he thawed the creature. Right after this transmission, the creature bursts out of a ceiling vent and attacks, as Isaac once again escapes. Towards the end of the chapter, when Isaac goes to test fire the engines of the shuttle in the Executive Shuttle Hangar Bay, The Hunter once again reveals itself, and attempts to kill Isaac. To defeat it, Isaac lures it towards the back of the shuttle, uses stasis to freeze the Hunter, and test fires the engines again, completely incinerating it to ashes; thus killing it off for good this time. The Hunter drops a Power Node upon death. Combat Tips *'Use your environment to your advantage.' ::Look for ways to stop or slow The Hunter. If there are points where the Hunter could get caught up on (low ceilings, doors with Node locks, barricades), use them! If there are throwable objects you can use to dismember limbs (Blades of Slashers, sawblades, etc.) or to stun it (exploding canisters, heavy objects, etc.), then use those, too! For example, in Chapter 10, after you collect the third navigation card, lure The Hunter to the room with the movable bunk beds. You can create a barricade to simply protect yourself. *'Dismember, then Stasis' ::Cut off the limbs of the creature, most effectively done with a Line Gun and then put it under stasis once its limbs start to regenerate. This will buy you a lot of time to attempt to leave the room. *'Do what the situation requires' ::If you can exit the room immediately, do so. In some situations, you will be locked in the room with the creature until Kendra unlocks the door. That's the only time you should confront the creature. ::At the end of Chapter 5, when you confront the Hunter in the Cryogenics room, lure him to the end of the room with the stasis recharge. Make it follow you into the middle section, then take out its legs and / or stasis it, and run into the small room at the other end, which will be unlocked. Make sure the hunter is in the middle section, then use the holographic panel to freeze it. In Chapter 10, the Hunter will reappear right after the message from Mercer after the 3rd Navigation card is picked up. It will essentially be the same kind of hit and run attack as Chapter 5. Again, Stasis is your best friend, so use it to your advantage since there will be quite a few enemies chasing after you. ::Towards the end of Chapter 10, you will have to face the Hunter again; this time finishing it off for good. First, you should shoot off a leg and put it under Stasis. Make distance, because their will be quite a few pesky Twitchers and Enhanced Slashers in the area that could overwhelm Isaac if you focus to much on the Hunter, so make them your highest priority since the Hunter is relatively slow. Once you've cleared the area of all the extra enemies, you should lure the Hunter with your back facing the room with the test launch panel. Dismember all of its limbs, since you want it to stay in the area of the blast. This gives you a few seconds while it regenerates after Stasis wears off. Press the panel and watch while the Hunter is burned, thus finishing it off for good (and giving you that sigh of relief that Isaac really does deserve). *'Do not waste your ammo.' ::The Hunter does regenerate, and under pressure you may not think about that. Use your ammo efficiently by removing its arms to avoid its heavily damaging attacks; slice off its legs to knock him onto the ground and slow him down. *'The Hunter is relatively slow.' ::Knocking out its legs to slow it further is a great tactic. Save your stasis ability for after you've taken down a few of its limbs. Slowing down its regeneration process is much more effective than to make it plod towards you at a slower rate. *'Use Your Stasis.' ::Keep a Stasis Pack or two in handy when in chapters encountering the Hunter. A quick way to escape is to take off most limbs (i.e. leg + arm) while it enters its regeneration stage. Freeze it and run! This is also useful in situations when he needs to be in a certain place. If you're using the Stasis Energy Refill cheat you don't have to buy any Stasis packs. *'Avoid, Avoid, Avoid.' ::When other enemies are near while confronting the Hunter, it's a relatively good idea to eradicate them instead of focusing on the major threat. Keep moving, take out a limb or two, and freeze it, then attack the remaining enemies and repeat if necessary. This strategy is wonderful for those of you who "collect" items. *'Lace up your running shoes!' ::If all else fails, you can conserve ammunition and health by simply avoiding the confrontation (most of the time) when things just seem too dark to handle! Remember, this is a "survival-horror" title. Trivia * Once the Hunter is frozen in Chapter 5, it's placed next to the other frozen Necromorph specimens, which Mercer plans on taking back to Earth. * Although there is no proof that more than one Hunter may exist, the fact that Mercer had a second body in a pod next to the Hunter suggests that an experiment might have been under way or that it might have failed. As such, it is impossible to say with utmost certainty that the Hunter encountered in Chapter 10 is the same as in Chapter 5, but it is likely so, especially since he says "my creation is free, reborn in the fierce heat of life itself" before it attacks, probably indicating that he defrosted it. * It is unknown how Mercer avoids being slain by his own creation when seemingly guiding it through the ship, although the same could be said of how Mercer possibly avoids death at the hand of all the other Necromorphs on the ship. Although, he is always behind some sort of barricade (glass, walls, etc) when the player encounters the Hunter, suggesting that he makes sure the player is in a specific area when the Hunter appears and transports it in a pod throughout the ship. The Medical Deck's Chem Lab and the Crew Deck's Sleeper Deck 3 are notable examples of how the Hunter attacks Isaac. In both cases, Isaac must venture into an isolated place with only one route of escape to retrieve an item, making it a good place for the Hunter to ambush him. * In the Dismemberment Demo, after heading to the door when completing your objective, Isaac puts the side of his head on the door to check for an ambush and on the other side of the door is your "friend" the Hunter, and, even if you aren't at critical health, the Hunter does the death scene below and ultimately (and very violently) ends the demo, keep in mind this is Chapter 3 and the Hunter appears in Chapter 5. * It is possible to spot the Hunter in Chapter 7 after gathering the miner's card from Deck B and then going straight down to Deck D. Behind the elevator door to Deck C (which is inaccessable at that time), you can see the Hunter moving towards the door. Death Scenes *When Isaac is at critical health (yellow or lower), the Hunter will stab both of his blades through his torso, lift him up, then stab him several times. The Hunter then slices off his legs, left arm and lowers him. Isaac struggles to hold up his right arm as if pleading to the Hunter. It then cuts his head off and finally slices him in half. thumb|300px|right|The Hunter death sequence * Another, more rare death scene sees Isaac being impaled from behind, lifted up, and decapitated. The Hunter makes no attempts to mutilate Isaac any further. Category:Necromorphs